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Bergeron, Rask Likely In Lineup Against Leafs

Both Bruins missed Friday's practice to recover

BOSTON - Patrice Bergeron and Tuukka Rask are both likely to play on Saturday night, as the Bruins host the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden.

Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. EST (NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub).

Both were back on the ice for pregame skate on Saturday morning at Warrior Ice Arena after missing Friday's practice. Bergeron missed practice with a day-to-day, lower body injury, while Rask was given a maintenance day.

"We'll probably have to make a game-time decision. I haven't followed up [with them], but they both look fine. I would say 'likely,'" Head Coach Claude Julien said of the their statuses.

Bergeron took the brunt of a blocked shot on Wednesday night in D.C. against the Capitals.

"The way that I felt that night and how I feel now, I definitely dodged a bullet in some way," said Bergeron. "It got me right on the side, right on the bone, and there's obviously no protection there - it was probably the one spot I was hoping not to get it - but yeah, it happened so fast that it's hard sometimes to know where it's going to hit you."

Bergeron was pleased when he found out there was no fracture. "Yeah, yeah, there should be a good chance [I play tonight]," he said.

"He's always an important key to our group so it's nice to see that he's recovering well," said Julien.

It would be a huge loss to not have Bergeron in the lineup, especially with a key matchup on tap against a divisional opponent like the Leafs.

"We know how big this game is. Definitely want to be part of it and my mind was made even [on Friday] that I wanted to get out for the morning skate and see how things were going to feel," said Bergeron. "I'm happy with the results, and ready for tonight's game."

Rask is feeling ready as well.

"Just a head clearing, maintenance day [on Friday]," said Rask. "Had some time off. A busy week there, I was here [at the rink on Friday], just stretching out and relaxing, but didn't skate."

"It was a busy week with the All-Star Game and traveling coast to coast, so just give your head a break, your body a break, and refocus on the game. It's a big game tonight, and then we have four days between games, so it would be pretty big to get on the break with the win."

Based on the first set of pregame skate line rushes, it appears that Austin Czarnik could be getting back into the lineup after four games as a healthy scratch.

"There's a good possibly there," said Julien. "We'll see what's going to happen with our lineup. I've still got some juggling to do. We've got to make some decisions here later."